Exhaust gas treatment device are, for example, catalytic converters and particle filters as well as combinations thereof. For example, an oxidation-type catalytic converter unit as well as a particle filter unit may be arranged one after another in a common housing to achieve a compact design. Hydrocarbons being carried in the exhaust gas can be reacted by means of the oxidation-type catalytic converter. The particle filter removes particles being carried in the exhaust gas, especially soot. Fuel, which is reacted at the catalytic converter exothermally, may be dispensed upstream of the oxidation-type catalytic converter to regenerate the particle filter. As a result, the particle filter arranged downstream in relation thereto can be heated to an ignition temperature, at which the soot particles deposited in the filter burn off in order to thus bring about the regeneration of the particle filter.
The oxidation-type catalytic converter unit may become worn more or less in the course of the operation of the exhaust gas treatment device. Furthermore, residues that cannot be burned off may remain in the particle filter unit, and these residues increasingly collect over time and gradually clog the particle filter in question. It may be correspondingly necessary to maintain the unit in question and to replace it with a new one if necessary. A comparatively great effort is needed to remove the oxidation-type catalytic converter unit and/or the particle filter unit from the common housing.